It’s exciting times when two of the most prominent pieces of legislation that govern our sector both pass their third and final readings before Parliament within a few weeks of each other. We now head to Royal Assent and work through the transition and implementation. This is the culmination of years of work on working committees, submissions and industry consultation.

The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Bill (the Bill) 2022

Once the Bill receives Royal assent, it will become law. The changes in the Bill do not come into force immediately. They come into force by Order in Council, or at the latest, two years from the date of Royal Assent.

The purpose of the Bill is to provide greater protections for unit title properties & owners. The Bill makes a number of key changes to the current Unit Titles Act 2010 (UTA), around disclosure & the information provided to prospective buyers, governance (including Committees and Managers), dispute resolution & remote meeting attendance.

As part of the Parliamentary process, the Bill went through the committee of the whole House stage. There was somewhat of an overhaul through this process, including tenancy tribunal costs, extending certain protections & requiring pre-contract disclosure to include any remediation reports commissioned by the body corporate.

The final version of the Bill approved by Parliament yesterday can be found here.

While the siloed approach rather than a holistic review was not perfect, this bill represents a huge step forward towards rectifying some of the critical issues the industry has recently faced.

Incorporated Societies Act 2022

The aim of the Act is to give guidance to run Societies. The current Act is now more than 100 years old and needed updating to help modernise how we govern and administer a Society, given how these have evolved.

After a very long gestation, the Bill to replace the Incorporated Societies Act 1908 was signed into law on 5 April 2022.

The Bill can be found here: Incorporated Societies Act 2022

While the Bill has been enacted, many of its provisions will not take effect immediately. All existing Incorporated Societies will be required to re-register with the Registrar of Incorporated Societies by the later of 1 December 2025 and the date that is two years and six months after the commencement of certain transitional provisions contained in the 2022 Act Residents’ Societies (a type of Incorporated Society), which are a common form of governance structure for multi-unit subdivisions. We have a specialist team that manage many of these. They are generally seen as more flexible than Unit Tiles, and used where there are multiple individual sections, or even multiple Body Corporates that need to be linked through another level of governance.

The Bill makes a number of key changes to the current Incorporated Societies Act 1908, around governance, Committees, dispute resolution, membership & financial reporting.

Existing Societies will need to engage the right team to carefully consider their Constitutions. Some of the notable improvements included in the new Incorporated Societies Act 2022, include:

  • A clear statement of the duties of officers and Committee members
  • A smaller minimum number of Members, which will help with smaller subdivisions
  • Different record keeping obligations for small Societies
  • Oversight of Societies by the Courts.

While we didn’t get everything we wished for, we are confident both of these Bills will go a long way towards significant improvements and raising the industry bar as a whole. As President of the Strata Community Association New Zealand (SCA (NZ)) and alongside the amazing team here at Property 101 Group we will continue our training, professional development & close communication with the Government in the final stages of these Bills and beyond, to ensure that this opportunity for reform results in the best possible outcomes.

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